Our little scrapbook of our family's life as we learn, love, and laugh together.

Friday, July 4, 2014

Blessing and Suffering - Part One

There is something
about having friends who suddenly abandon their Christian faith that
makes a person revisit their own beliefs... That's not to say that
I'm questioning my faith (been there, done that, got my feet firmly
planted), but that I'm tweaking the way I present it.

But
before I get there, I've been thinking about the word “blessing”
a lot lately. It's not a new topic for me, as I've written about it before. It's been written about by others and we've been asked to stop using that word. (I'm sure some of you have read "The One Thing Christians Should Stop Saying.") We seem to toss it around flippantly without really understanding the word:

“I was blessed to get
that job.”
“We're blessed with three kids.”

“What a blessing you
are to our family!”

“We've been blessed
with so much.”

I don't think it's wrong to attribute
physical, tangible things to God. After all, every good and perfect
gift comes from the Father (James 1:17). Of course, if you read that verse in
context (D'oh!) it's speaking more towards the eternal. But there are
verses that speak of physical blessing.

Proverbs 5:18 may make
you blush when you read it with the surrounding verses... “May
your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your
youth.” It's saying that having babies with your wife is a
blessing. (Psalm 127:5 says something similar; “Blessed is the
man whose quiver is full of [children].”) It doesn't get more
physical than that!

God, in prophecy to the
land of Israel, in Malachi 3:11-12, says that physical prosperity is
cause for saying one is blessed. “I will prevent pests from
devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop
their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. “Then all
the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful
land,” says the Lord Almighty.

So it is certainly
scriptural to call ourselves blessed when positive, tangible things
happen, but it goes beyond that. In fact, as I read through and look
at the various ways that the word “blessed” is used, it seems to
indicate a God-given joy for the one who is blessed, rather than a
feeling of having much.

In all of this
pondering, I kept coming back to The Beatitudes. I think that I may
have totally misunderstood them over the last 30-some years that I've
been reading the Bible. I've been reading and comprehending them
backwards.

Blessed are the
poor in spirit,

for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those
who mourn,

for they will be
comforted.

Blessed are the
meek,

for they will
inherit the earth.

Blessed are those
who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be
filled.

Blessed are the
merciful,

for they will be
shown mercy.

Blessed are the
pure in heart,

for they will
see God.

Blessed are the
peacemakers,

for they will be
called children of God.

Blessed are those
who are persecuted because of righteousness,

for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you
when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of
evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad,
because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they
persecuted the prophets who were before you.

I always felt
that there should be a sense of pride or exultation when the first
line of each Beatitude happened to me, because it meant that I was
being blessed. As if, somehow, the blessing was in the beat-down. “I
am merciful, therefore I am blessed. I get involved in arguments and
make peace, therefore I am blessed.”

I had it totally backwards and flat-out wrong!

I'm sure you already know this, but I'm a bit dense at
times, so let me write it all out here, just to make sure I've got it
straight.

It's actually saying something like:

Even if you have a
weak spirit, you will be blessed with the kingdom of heaven.

Even though there will
be times of mourning, take heart, because you'll be blessed with
comfort.

Even though you are
meek, you will be blessed with the inheritance of the earth!

In those times when you
feel far from God and are searching for him, you will be blessed
with his overflowing spirit.

When you resist the
urge to get revenge, you will be blessed with the same mercy you
showed others.

When you rid yourself
of worldly filth, you will have the blessing of truly seeing God's
beauty.

When you make peace and
dispeldiscord, God blesses you by
calling you His Child.

In those times when
trouble comes to you for doing the right thing, you will be
blessed with the kingdom of heaven.

When your faith in
Jesus is being assaulted, you are blessed because you are
following in the footsteps of the spiritual giants who have gone
before you. And, just like them, your reward is in heaven.

Blessed!

So, what are the real blessings here?

Kingdom of heaven

Comfort

Inherit the earth

Filled with God

Shown mercy

Seeing God

Called a child of God

Kingdom of heaven

Reward in heaven.

These blessings have
little to do with physical, tangible comfort and more to do with the
eternal. (I should note here that inheriting the earth does seem
rather physical in nature.)

A scripture that is often misused
to say that things will be hunky-dory in this life is Romans 8:28.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those
who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
It seems to be saying that followers of God will have good things
happen to them in this life. That doesn't line up with the rest of
scripture. Jesus tells his disciples that there will be trouble in
this world, but to take heart as he has overcome the world. (John
16:33)

When you read Romans
8:28 in context (you'll need to back up to about Romans 8:18 to get
some context) you see that it is speaking more to the eternal than
the temporal:
v 18 - our present sufferings are not worth
comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us

v 21 - in hope that the
creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and
brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

v 23 – we... groan
inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the
redemption of our bodies.

v 28 - called according
to his purpose...

v 29 - to be conformed
to the image of his Son

v 30 - those he
predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified;
those he justified, he also glorified.

v 32 - He who gave [his
Son] up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciouslygive us all things? [Is that “all things” in a physical way,
or “all things” in an eternal way?]

V 35 - Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or
persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

V 36 - “For your sake
we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be
slaughtered.”

And the big summary at
the end of this discourse which says:

v 37-39 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So, to summarize so
far... Blessing is often used in the Bible to speak of God-given
joy, rather than a feeling of getting something from God. But, when
the word “blessed” refers to us receiving something, it is often
of eternal value, rather than temporal value. The few times that it is a tangible, temporal, earthly thing, the blessing is still in the God-given joy just as much as it is in the physical gift.

...Which brings
me back to the beginning of this discourse.

Read Part Two to read more on how our misuse of the Bible can lead people away from God.

1 comment:

Well said! And in the 8:28 passage, it says that God works for our good. But what is 'our good'? Are we smarter than God? HE knows what it actually best for us, and in ALL THINGS He works for OUR GOOD.